If you’ve tried Japanese mochi balls and want to learn how to make them from scratch, you’ve come to the right place. In today’s recipe, we show you how to make these soft and chewy rice cakes like a pro. You will be so proud of them!
We filled our mochi with peanut butter paste, a popular alternative to the classic Japanese sweet red bean paste (aka anko). To make it, all you have to do is mix peanut butter with powdered sugar. You’ll end up with a paste dense enough to form into a ball and wrap in the mochi dough.
Preparing the peanut filling is much easier than making the traditional anko. This is perfect if you’re new to mochi and want to start with an easy recipe — especially since you can use store-bought peanut butter. Dead easy! But of course you can also make the peanut butter yourself by following our tips below.
If you’re still feeling adventurous and want to experiment with other mochi filling ideas, check out our Purple Ube Mochi, Chili Chocolate Mochi, and Mango Jam Mochi recipes.
Before starting the recipe, make sure you have the right type of rice flour for mochi. Mochi dough is prepared with sticky rice flour, not regular rice flour. This flour is ground from Japanese sticky short grain rice known as mochigoma.
You could find glutinous rice flour at a well-stocked supermarket, but your local Asian grocery store is more likely to have it. Alternatively, you can buy it online. It’s important that you get the right rice flour, otherwise the recipe won’t come out.
For the other mochi ingredients, all you need is water and powdered sugar. In the recipe below, we give you the option of swapping out sugar for zero-calorie erythritol. This safe, natural sweetener is sugar-free, but tastes almost as sweet as sugar. It’s perfect if you want to make your peanut mochi sugar-free or cut calories.
Oh, and one last thing: make sure you have enough strength on hand. Mochi rice dough is extremely sticky. But if you dust your countertop and your hands liberally with starch, it will be a breeze to deal with. And you will have so much fun shaping these cute balls.
So, put on your apron and let’s make these nutty, deliciously chewy Peanut Butter Mochis together!